428 THE FRANKLIN SJSAECH— 1848-51. 



of the ' Herald ' to this interesting spot, has given a third opportunity of 

 collecting fossil bones and examining the structure of these famed cliffs. 

 Captain Kellett, Berthold Seemann, Esq., and John Goodridge, Esq., with 

 the works of Kotzebue and Beechey in their hands, and an earnest desire to 

 ascertain which of the conflicting opinions enunciated by these ofiicers 

 was the most consistent with the facts, came to the conclusion, after a rigid 

 investigation of the cliffs, that Kotzebue was correct in considering them to 

 be icebergs. . . . The ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay may have had an 

 origin similar to that of the Greenland icebergs, and have been coated with 

 soil by a single or by successive operations. I find it difiicult, however, to 

 account for the introduction of the fossil remains in such quantity, and can 

 offer to the reader no conjecture on that point that is satisfactory to myself. 

 The excellent state of preservation of many of the bones, the recent decay 

 of animal matter, shown by the existing odour, quantities of hair found in 

 contact with a mammoth's skull, the occurrence of the outer sheaths of 

 bison horns, and the finding of vertebrse of bovine animals lying in their 

 proper order of sequence, render it probable that entire carcasses were there 

 deposited, and that congelation followed close upon their entombment. A 

 gradual improvement of climate in modern times would appear to be neces- 

 sary to account for the decay of the chffs now in progress, and the exposure 

 of the bones. The shallowness of the water in Eschscholtz Bay, its narrow- 

 ness and its shelter from seaward pressure by Chloris Peninsula and 

 Chamisso Island, preclude the notion of icebergs, coming with their cargoes 

 from a distance, having been forced up on the beach at that place. Neither 

 is it more likely that the bones and diluvial matters were deposited in the 

 estuary of Buckland's Eiver, and subsequently liberated by one of the earth 

 waves by which geologists solve many of their difficulties, for ice could not 

 subsist long as a flooring to warmer water. In short, further observations 

 are still needed to form the foundations of a plausible theory." 



By the 26th of September the " Herald " had supplied all the wants of 

 the " Plover," and on the 29th she sailed out of Kotzebue Sound, having in 

 company the " Nancy Dawson," the owner and commander of which, Mr R. 

 Sheddon, was now in ill health. On the 2d October the " Herald " passed 

 through Behring Strait, and anchored at the port of Mazatlan, in Mexico, 

 on the 14th November, where Mr Sheddon's yacht had arrived on the previous 

 day. Mr Sheddon died three days after his arrival in harbour, and was buried 

 in the Protestant burial-ground at Mazatlan. "The 'Nancy Dawson,'" says 

 Seemann, "will ever be remembered in the history of navigation as the 

 first yacht that performed a voyage round the world, and penetrated to the 

 eastward of Point Barrow ; while the generous impulse which induced Mr 

 Sheddon to search for his missing countrymen, will always be appreciated by 

 every feeling heart, and held up as an example to future generations." 



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